Tajikistan, Afghanistan Postpone Electricity Agreement
Signing

Jun 20, 2008 - BBC Monitoring Central Asia

The signing of an intergovernmental agreement on supplying
electricity from Tajikistan to Afghanistan in 2010- 2015,
which was planned for today, has not been held. The Tajik
Energy and Industry Ministry's spokesman told journalists
that the ceremony of signing the document was postponed
"solely due to technical reasons" for indefinite time.

A draft agreement on the supply of surplus electricity
from Tajikistan to the neighbouring country in summer period
was approved by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which
provided 50m dollars for the project.

Within the framework of the project, Tajikistan should
supply surplus electricity to Afghanistan via a new 120-km
long power line- 500, the building of which is planned for
this autumn. The ADB's chief specialist, Jim Listor [name
transliterated], said that "the project was beneficial for
both countries, as it would help to improve power supply
in these countries, reduce prices for customers and would
make it possible for Tajikistan to export up to 300 MW of
surplus electricity to Afghanistan a year".

At the same time, sources from a Tajik government delegation
told the ITAR-TASS news agency's correspondent that the
sticking point for signing the agreement was "the issue
of price" for kWh of exported electricity. The Afghan side
decided that "the price of the supply was high", the agency's
interlocutor said. At the same time, representatives of
the Tajik and Afghan governments decided to continue the
discussion later.

Originally published by ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow,
in Russian 1431 20 Jun 08.